


A Merry Scary Christmas

by inks0up (krikkit_war_robot)



Series: Return to the Studio [1]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Christmas Special, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2020-08-10 17:07:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20138977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krikkit_war_robot/pseuds/inks0up
Summary: As it turns out, even inky abominations celebrate Christmas.





	A Merry Scary Christmas

Henry awoke to the ticking of the Bendy clock on the wall of his cramped room in the safe house. It was the start of yet another day trapped in this long-forgotten studio. The old animator yawned and stretched, then got up and made his way to the main room of the safe house. To his surprise, it had been decorated overnight.

Red and green streamers hung from the walls, which were decorated with paper snowflakes. A few old posters had been hung up, which had once advertised _Snow Sillies_ and other short Christmas cartoons from decades ago. Boris was up already and sitting in his usual spot, fully dressed up as Santa Claus himself, and _Deck the Halls_ was playing from the phonograph beside him.

“Did you do this, Boris?” Henry asked. The wolf nodded joyfully. “You did a good job. Really feels like Christmas in here.” Boris motioned for Henry to take a seat at the table, on which two mugs of hot chocolate were set, and Henry sat down.

“Christmas...” Henry wondered aloud, picking up his drink. “Have I really been here that long?”

It had been a long time, hadn't it? And there was still no sign of any opportunity to escape the old studio. The realization weighed down on Henry, and Boris must have picked up on that, because he looked at Henry with a confused expression.

“Sorry, buddy. I bet you expected me to be happier on Christmas, didn't you?” Boris nodded. “I know you won't understand, but I have a family to go home to. Feels like ages since I've seen them...” Henry couldn't deny that he missed his family, and he'd give anything for a chance to go back home and see them again. “I should be home, not here, at least for-”

He was interrupted by Alice's voice over the studio's speakers:

“Come down to Level 9, Henry. I'm in need of your assistance.”

So much for talking to Boris. Henry knew better than to ignore the angel's commands. He took the axe lying by the door to the safe house – he never left without something he could use to defend himself – and headed down to Alice's floor.

The entire studio had been decorated for the holiday, it seemed. Some of the decorations matched those of the safe house – the red and green streamers, the snowflakes, the Christmas cartoon posters – while others were a bit disturbing, such as Butcher Gang corpses in Santa hats, hanging from the ceiling, most likely Alice's idea of festive cheer. There was more writing on the walls, too, from the generic “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Holidays”, to lyrics of Christmas carols, to some rather unsettling messages – prime example, “WE'VE BEEN GOOD BUT WE CAN'T LAST”.

If they'd been “good” so far, Henry didn't even want to know what “bad” was.

~

“So, my little errand boy finally made it,” Alice said when Henry arrived. “Merry Christmas, Henry.”

“Merry Christmas, Alice.”

“I want to do something nice today. Today is a special day, after all.”

Something nice? From Alice? Surely this was a first.

“A holiday celebration is a wonderful idea, don't you think? Just one day to forget about the horrors of this forsaken place and enjoy ourselves for a day. I think it sounds perfect!”

Henry wasn't sure he liked where this was going. There had to be a catch to this. This was Alice Angel, after all.

“I need your help to prepare. We need something to watch, don't we? You made so many great cartoons once upon a time... why don't you go fetch those? Go get every Christmas cartoon you made. You can find them on Level 14.”

And there was the catch. Henry wasn't at all surprised that Alice was asking him to put himself in unnecessary danger yet again. In fact, he would've been surprised if she hadn't asked him to. However, the consequences for disobeying her would surely be worse than the risks she was expecting him to take, so she had his unquestioning obedience once again.

“Remember, Level 14,” Alice warned when Henry entered the elevator. “Don't even think about looking elsewhere.”

Level 14 it was, then.

That inky abyss was not a pleasant place to be, but Henry wasn't going to risk questioning Alice's orders. He waded through the thick ink, sneaking past the Projectionist – who, fortunately, was distracted by the looping clip from _Snow Sillies_ he was projecting onto the wall – and entered the maze in which numerous projectors were set up.

The last time he had been in here, _Tombstone Picnic_ had been playing from every projector. This time, there was more variety – and festivity – as various Christmas episodes played around him. He stopped the nearest projector and removed the animation reel from it, then moved on to the next one.

Suddenly, a bright light shone on the projector Henry was tampering with from behind him. It was accompanied by a loud, inhuman, mechanical screech.

Henry had heard that before. He knew he was in trouble.

He quickly turned around, careful to avoid looking directly into the Projectionist's blinding light. He was already in a corner, and the Projectionist had gotten too close for running past him to be an option. Gripping his axe in fear, he knew he would have no choice but to try to fight this thing. Unless...

“Norman!”

Hearing that name stopped the Projectionist in his tracks. That had worked?

“I... Alice sent me here. She asked me to bring her some cartoons. I'm not here to cause any trouble.”

The Projectionist removed the animation reel that Henry had been trying to remove before he was nearly attacked. As he did the same with the other projectors, Henry wasn't sure what to do. He didn't want to risk angering the Projectionist again by trying to get the other reels before he did – he might not get so lucky the next time.

“I need those.”

The Projectionist seemed to ignore him until he had gathered all the animation reels which were playing, at which point he handed them all to Henry before walking off aimlessly. Had he just been helped by someone who had seemed before to be nothing but a mindless, aggressive monster? This studio sure was full of surprises.

“We're having the party on the first floor,” Alice's voice came over the speakers. “Bring the cartoons there.”

Henry obeyed the angel's directions, and he could only hope nothing tried to attack him on the way. His arms were full with the set of projector reels he was carrying; it would make it difficult to defend himself.

Henry safely made it to the first floor, to the main room near the studio's entrance. There was a Christmas tree set up in this room, decorated with toys in the likenesses of the three former cartoon stars, with string fixed to them to hang them from the branches. The tree was topped not with a star or an angel, but with a wooden Bendy head salvaged from one of the broken cutouts that littered the studio. Near the projector, Alice was waiting for Henry to arrive.

“There you are. Leave them here.”

He set down the animation reels next to the projector.

“Now, I think we need something to eat. Go find me something.”

“Bacon soup?”

“That disgusting filth?” Alice responded. “No, anything but that. Bring back something sweet.”

That request could be a problem. During the entire time he had been stuck here, Henry had not seen any food except for the seemingly-endless supply of bacon soup.

“Don't worry, I've left something for you to find. Head down to the angel room on Level K. There's something there I'm certain we'll all enjoy.”

~

Henry hadn't even left the first room after the elevator on Level K when ink began to drip down the walls, seemingly coming out of nowhere. He knew what this meant. He ran immediately to the closest Little Miracle Station and locked himself inside for safety. Soon enough, Bendy came into view through the window of his hiding place.

Normally, Bendy would walk past without noticing his hiding target, but not this time. This time, the ink demon approached the hiding station and came face-to-face with his creator, with only a locked wooden door and a small window between them.

Henry was, admittedly, quite terrified, but there was nothing he could do but stay put and hope the door would hold. However, the demon didn't try to open or break down the door. He simply stared at Henry through the window, with his unsettling signature grin plastered across his face.

At least, he seemed to be staring. The lack of eyes made it hard to tell.

Their “staring match”, in the few minutes it lasted, continued on for what seemed like forever. Henry, on high alert, refused to take his eyes off of the monster that was after him, and Bendy – well, Henry assumed Bendy was waiting for him to come out.

Eventually, the demon gave up and wandered off, and the ink cleared away. When he was sure it was safe, Henry opened the door of the Little Miracle Station, and, to his surprise, he saw a wrapped box, covered in ink, sitting on the floor.

Bendy had left him a present. That was certainly unexpected. Knowing it was possibly against his better judgment, he unwrapped and opened the box anyway to see what was inside. After all, it was a Christmas present; how bad could it be?

Big mistake.

The instant Henry lifted the lid from the box, a decapitated Striker head suddenly sprung out, startling him and almost causing him to scream out in surprise. Moments later, though, he was laughing over the fact that he'd just been scared half to death by a harmless gag gift. That trickster had gotten him good with that one, he had to admit.

~

The remainder of Henry's trip to fetch the treats Alice had asked for – a basket filled with candy canes and chocolates, with a bright red ribbon tied to the handle – was rather uneventful. The Christmas party back upstairs, on the other hand, was certainly interesting.

“Interesting” was not necessarily a good thing, of course. Sammy Lawrence was there. Henry had avoided him since their last encounter, when Sammy had tried to offer him as a sacrifice. Sammy approached him now, carrying a gift. Maybe this was some sort of peace offering?

“Henry, I want to apologize for the last time we met. I didn't recognize you then.”

“It's no problem,” Henry replied. “Nearly everyone here has tried to kill me at some point. I've gotten used to it.” Realizing how casually he had just said that, he realized he really had been here for too long. Near-death encounters weren't supposed to be a casual conversational topic, at least not for most people.

“I made you a gift. It's something I know you'll love.” Sammy handed his gift to Henry. It was flat and fairly large, in the shape of Bendy's head. Henry opened it, revealing a mask nearly identical to Sammy's, the exception being that the paint wasn't nearly as worn. “You can look like him with this. It's a step closer to perfection!”

“Uh, thanks,” said Henry, trying not to seem impolite. Perhaps he'd misjudged Sammy after the sacrifice incident, but he'd definitely been right to assume that the former music director had become incredibly strange since their days working together.

“Aren't you going to wear it?”

Henry complied and put the mask on, hoping it would get Sammy off his back.

“I can't see a thing.”

“You can't?” Sammy sounded confused.

“There's no holes for the eyes.” Come to think of it, Sammy's mask didn't have eye holes, either, yet he seemed to see just fine. “How do you see through yours?”

“How do you see without- my lord!”

Uh-oh.

Henry froze in fear as he felt himself grabbed by Bendy, two arms wrapped around him, holding him against the demon's large, inky body. This was it. This was the end. He was going to be killed by his own cartoon creation at a bizarre Christmas party.

Except Bendy didn't hurt him. Henry quickly realized this was the second unexpected thing Bendy had given him today: a hug. He wrapped his arms around Bendy in return, the two of them sharing a special moment. Today, they weren't a monster and his prey. They were a creator and his creation.

The party continued on throughout the day. The Projectionist played old cartoons for everyone to watch and had set up several other projectors around the room – despite Alice's insistence that this many projectors was completely unnecessary – to play different episodes simultaneously. Bendy clearly enjoyed pestering Alice, but her annoyed cries of “don't touch me, demon!” inevitably turned to laughter each time. The pair of them bickered like brother and sister, not enemies. Sammy, with his old banjo, led the group – at least, those of the group who had voices – in singing Christmas carols. Boris handed out candy canes to everyone but ended up eating most of them himself.

Henry had seen a different side of his creations and former coworkers today. For once, he didn't feel like he was trapped in his old workplace with no way to escape. He didn't feel as if everyone – besides Boris, of course – was out to get him.

For the first time since his return, Henry felt like he belonged here at the studio.

It was certainly the strangest Christmas he had ever had, but it was magical in its own way. If he ever made it out of here alive, he was certain he would cherish the memory of this Christmas forever.


End file.
